173. Real Stories About What's Possible | Interview with Rosaline

Welcome to the Influency Podcast. I'm Hadar, your host, and today we are going to hear success stories. Hey, everyone. Thank you so much for tuning in for another episode of the Influency podcast today. I'm super, super thrilled to have you here because today I'm going to share with you an interview that I conducted with a few of my favorite people in this world. And those people are my students, my dear students. And they are going to share with you their English journey, where they used to be and where they are today. And there is quite a difference. And they're going to share with you what they've done to reach that place of freedom and confidence and success and all their accomplishments thanks to that shift and change in their English and approach to English. And also they're going to share where they were and the limitations and the things that held them back and what they did to let go of those limitations. So this is such an inspiring episode. And it's not just me telling you this because I'm not objective, obviously, but people who heard them speak kept sharing how inspiring it was and motivating, and I think that you deserve to hear that too. And this is why I'm sharing it here. Once you listen to this episode, I would love for you to come back to me and share with me what you feel about this and about their stories. You can find me on Instagram, Hadar Accentsway and. Yeah. And tell me what you think. So thank you for being here and I can't wait to share with you today's episode. So let's listen.

Hello. Hello. Hi, everyone. Hi, Hadar. Hey, how are you doing? I'm doing good.

Okay, for those who don't know you, would you like to introduce yourself?

Definitely. So, hello, everyone. My name is Rosalind Chen. I'm a makeup artist based in Vienna, Austria. So I'm here for my study. I've been here for about six years and before that I was four years living in the States where I picked up my language, my English language skill actually. And I'm a huge language fan. Like, I've been learning different languages languages for a long time and just trying to understanding and getting to know different languages. I'm also a multicultural kid, at least I consider myself so, because I grew up in kind of three different continents and so far I speak Mandarin, English, German, a little French, Japanese, and also I learned a little Russian before. Yeah. So that's my language background. Amazing. Amazing. Thank you.

Do you feel like you have different personalities in each language? Like In Mandarin, in English, and in German. These are your three main languages, right, that you use. Would you say that you experience them differently or you feel like a different Rosalind comes out when you speak that language?

Definitely. I actually had a video talking about how I shift my. Kind of shifting my personality when talking different languages. For example, in my mother town, Mandarin, I sound a bit, you know, my tone's a bit more down and I sound a little more subtle, so to speak. I think it's awesome because of the cultural perspective, the aspect that makes it so. Because I mean, in Mandarin, nobody gets so, wow, hey, you're amazing or something. Like, we don't really compliment people so so much, so broadly, you know, by English, you'll be like, hey, how are you doing today? You look amazing. So, like, you don't really get to compliment people really so much like this in such a big way. So, like, in English, I'm definitely more live. Like, live. Yes.

This is such an amazing point and I want to talk about it a little bit more because I'm sure that a lot of people watching have experienced it and maybe they couldn't put the name to it. Like, you just have like this idea that it's not just about the languages that are different. It's just like the cultural circumstances or the context in which a language is being used that is different. Like, you need to shift. And I'm sure you've taken new sound, so you have gone through the prosody module where we talk about intonation, rhythm, stress, and I'm sure you discovered a lot of differences there as well.

Definitely. Actually, that's one of my favorite chapter, the prosody. And also the confidence mentality where you talked about the fixed and growth mindset in language. I remember talking to you about that before as well. So it really helped me to break through, you know, understanding that, yeah, I might have a little bit of fixed mindset when I'm speaking the languages. And then that's the step one. And then after you understand that, you consciously trying to work out to, you know, break through this fixed mindset, and that's the transition, that's the second step. And the third step, you have a growth mindset in when you speak English or speaking any other languages. So that really helps.

Would you like to explain it for people who don't know how fixed mindset and growth mindset work in language? Like, how would you explain it to someone who's totally new to this concept?

Definitely. Actually, this concept, it's not so foreign to me. Before but, you know, I didn't have this proper word friction growth mindset in language. I understand that there is, but I didn't know that there could be also a fixed or growth mindset in language as well. So fixed mindset is, for example, right Now I'm like 23 and 24 saying that, oh, I'm already 23, 24. If I just started to learn English right now, I will never, ever get rid of my accent or I will never become so fluent as to people who started in a much younger age. So that's, so to speak, the fixed mindset. But the growth mindset is, no, I don't believe in that at all. I will believe that by doing hard work, by practicing every single day, and by, you know, dedicating myself to learn this language, I will become fluent one day and even potentially get rid of my accent if I want to, and feel so comfortable and feel so confident in speaking this language, whatever language they want. I mean, that's the growth mindset. I love that.

Yeah, I love that. And if we take it back to what you said about the cultural differences, you know, a fixed mindset would be, well, I can't change my voice. This is not what I was raised to. You know, how I was raised to speak. Or I'm not comfortable. My intonation is already set. I cannot speak loudly or with a different pitch because this is not my language. And then a growth mindset would be like, I recognize that there is a difference, and I don't feel that I'm going to be fake or not myself if I use a different set of musical patterns or different intonation, if it serves me right. So I think that also you had to understand that yourself to be able to make the changes that you have.

Definitely. Definitely. Yeah.

So tell me a little bit more about your studies. You've been in Vienna for six years, and you've been studying. Tell us a little bit more about what it feels like to study in a foreign language.

So, long story short, I study International Business Administration, minoring in business, Japanese and Computer science. I also went through two years of music program because I played the violin. And then middle of the way, I kind of have to, you know, give it a pause and really concentrate on the International Business Administration because that's probably the study that will find me a job later on. So that's my story so far.

And how is the experience of study? And you study in German like this, or in English?

It's a mixture of both. So the basic courses, the fundamental. Those are in German. And then later on when we have more electives, you can select more English speaking courses, seminars. So those are the possibilities. Yeah.

Amazing. And I guess that because of your experience, you felt like you knew how to adapt yourself to a new place or a new culture because it's something that you've experienced also growing up like you said.

Yes. So going to like a German speaking country like Indiana, it really helps. So before I already went through from zero to one, you know, going to the States from zero to one. I speak really little English back in the time.

Sorry, how old were you when you.

Moved to the last? I was like 12, 13 years old. I. So I basically started my ninth grade in the state and finished the high school there.

Okay. What does it feel like for a 12 year old girl, you know, going into a country not speaking the language at all and then going into. You probably went to school, an English school. How was that experience?

So they basically just throw me really this word. It's so accurate. They threw me into the school. I didn't have any translator, like. No, no, not at all. Only the basic English background that I had before in China where I learned those basic phrases of English and some vocabulary. Those are my foundations. But then basically they threw me into the school. I went through the normal classrooms with every single of my other classmates. I had in the first year, like one class of ESL session, English as second foreign language and session. But that's it. That's only one of the help that I had as a ESL student. But all the other ones, I'm just going through the class to listening to the teachers, listening to my classmates. And I remember back in the time, because it was 2000, I don't know, 12 or something. There's no phone. I had no phone. I had this thick of dictionary, Chinese, English dictionary, bring them to school every single day. And when studying, this is, you know, when going through the task, I don't understand really slow, you know, flipping the dictionary, trying to understand what it means. But most of the time those words are not found in a dictionary because for example, I don't know, you know, stuff the terminology that you learn in biology I don't think you can find in a normal daily dictionary. So that was a little hard. But with the time I start, you know, I think after like a couple of months, like two, three months, I didn't need a dictionary anymore. So I just threw that away. But then at home. Yeah, but at home I have to, you know, kind of. I remember kind of the first Homework of history is to read pages, I don't know, I don't know, 10 to 20 or whatever it was like, you know, but back in the school when I was in China, you know, I didn't have to read any, you know, such a long text. Don't even talk about 10 pages, just in pure English. And I remember going back home the first couple of days, just going through the dictionary one by one, copying down words, translate, and then studying until midnight. Those are, those are. The first couple months.

Created some sort of resilience that you are still till this day using in your life. Like, you know, because you had to be resourceful, you had to be resilient. You had to kind of like figure things out on the go and to, you know, to find a way to make friends. Friends despite that barrier. And I'm sure that some of the skills that you've acquired are things that you're probably using till this day. Would you. Would you agree? Can you pinpoint some of the things that impacted your life?

Definitely. So understanding that I could always go from zero to one, you know, just like starting from the most fundamental, the first, you know, first word that I don't understand, I just check in the dictionary. Understanding I could do that helped me so much. Also going to the university, going to Vienna, Austria, believing myself that I could start from zero again. Learning German, but that's another thing. But also having such very nice, welcoming and helpful friends and classmates and my teachers, because I think I was one of the only ESL student in the town, actually, because it was a small town, my teacher, they were so helpful. They gave me definitely the extra attention that I needed and the help that I needed. And sometimes, you know, I going after school to them, asking them, like, for example, what's the homework today? I didn't understand. Or copying notes for my other friends or like the classmates, and they give me their notes, you know, for me to copy. And the teacher understood I needed the subtitles for watching movies, for example. So. Yeah, so whenever I asked they could do it, they helped me and exactly. This kind of community could be found with your community as well. In the new sound program. It's very similar. The Facebook group that we have in the new sound program. There are also such kind a group of welcoming, helpful, motivating peers that you have just going down the same path as you and then helping you along the way to achieve whatever you want to achieve.

So, Rosaleen, would you share with me why, you know, I'm sure that a lot of people watching this interview, they're like, wait, so if you've been in the US for so long and you feel confident, like, why did you sign up for new Sound? Why did you sign up for a program designed to help you, you know, elevate your English wherever you're at, and your pronunciation and mindset and all of that? Like, why did you decide to do it?

Yes, there are actually a couple aspects to it. So aspect number one is I actually wasn't so confident before completing this program about my English. Even though I did went through, you know, four years of high school in the States, but the level of my English confidence skill was still not there. You know, I still have accent. Even now I understand I have the. I don't know, whatever accent I have. And then I also. I'm also. Second aspect is I'm an introvert. So that meaning saying that is like, for example, when I go live, when I do an interview with someone, when I, you know, have to talk in front of a mass audience, I get super damn nervous. And then with that, my English probably doesn't come out the way it should be or it could be. And so that's aspect number two and aspect number three before, I really want to, you know, I want to sound fluent. I want to have, you know, better speech. I want to, you know, feel comfortable about my accent, about my English. My mom actually, you know, because my mom paid for the program, but she actually didn't believe that, you know, I could still change my accent because she said, you're already turning three. You know, I was like, there. Right, Exactly. She actually have that fixed mindset about, you know, I'm already turning three. I cannot change my accent. But I told my mom, I was like, okay, whatever you say. Please just pray for this program. Trust me, I want to go through this program and I understand what it is, and I want to give it a go. Even though compared to what I get afterwards back in the time, I actually have no idea what I could get out of it. But I want to give it a try. I want to challenge myself. I want to do something different I have never done before and see what outcome it brings to me. So those are the three, actually three motivating factors that encouraged me to sign up for this program. And I really thankful for myself back in the time that I signed up, and I do not regret that decision at all.

And a shout out to mama who made it possible.

Yes. Big thanks to my mom paying for the program. Yeah.

But, like, really deciding to do it. And I love what you said, it's so smart, it's so important for people to hear it that even though sometimes things on the surface seem like you should be okay, when you inside are unhappy with something or not content, it's so important to pursue an answer or to pursue self improvement, you know, no matter what, whether it's English or your relationship or the job that you have, like if you settle for something that you're not happy with, again, like it doesn't matter what it is, you're not going to be happy. And I feel that this is exactly where you were and now, you know, speaking with you, it feels like everything is just flowing and there's like all this personality coming out. That definitely means that, you know, English is not a barrier for you and English is not holding you back and you're actually using it to be yourself and to express yourself and to probably achieve more things. So I think that this is pretty incredible. So I know that you, you used to record videos, right? How did that feel? Right. And use the group and shared videos like vlogging and so how did you shift your mindset from oh, I'm an introvert, I'm shy, I don't want to be on video, to doing it.

And how did it help you actually exactly? I really want to talk about, you know, the making videos part or shooting videos part. I think this is one of definitely the game changer for me at least in my journey to learn English or improve my English before actually going through the program. I really don't consider this an English pronunciation program or learning English program. But for me personally, just speaking for myself, no one else, I think this is a mindset, breakthrough and personality reshaping program, at least for me. And most of the factor it could be contributing towards how this program is built into encouraging you to, to make videos and post videos every single day, every week to this friendly, supportive, helpful community. Because without this, you know, actively, you know, you're getting the input from Hadara's, from her videos, from the coaching part. But then you also need to give the output so you actually learn, be able to, you know, telling your brain like to give out whatever you have learned from Hadar. So this making video part is actually the way, one of the most efficient way to put whatever you learn into practice. And then when we have this Facebook community, I just told myself, okay, you know, Rosalind, you know, whatever you do, try to, try to make at least one video a day. Doesn't matter if it's 2 minutes, 30 seconds, 10 minutes, just put it out there, you know, doesn't matter if people like it, hate it, watch it or not watch it. You know those are out of your control, right? Those are not within your control. What you can control is to put this video out there and to speak English. So that's actually what I did. And you know, surprisingly I received so many encouraging comments and people saying that, oh, I want to watch more of you talking about makeup or I want to hear more about how you aced your interview or how you gave your presentation, you know, I want to hear more from you and blah blah, blah. And those keeps you get going with the next video and the next day, you know, if you so motivated, knowing that there's a group of people waiting to see you, to hear from you in the Facebook community and then you just have to keep making them and keep posting them. My comfort zone to open up myself not to be such an introvert, but actually even though being an introvert, but also to show people why can and yeah, my true personality, so to speak.

What you've said here really includes a lot of fundamental elements that we always talk about and again like we're talking about new sound program, but these are things you can do on your own. Even the influency community, our community is absolutely free where you can, you know, post videos and use that. But the elements that you spoke about that we really encourage and that really goes into the program is one, building habits, right? Like I'm gonna show up no matter what because I said I'm gonna show up. And then you have this integrity that you're like, I said that I'm gonna do it. I know it's gonna be good for me. It's not always gonna feel right or good, but I'm gonna do it anyway. So it's actually two things. It's both the motivation, like I know the fuel, right, like, and it's not always going to feel right, but, but I know the direction, right? And then the habit is like the actual vehicle that takes you there, right? And then the mindset which is fighting the negative self talk right now. People are not gonna like it. No, I'm gonna, I'm gonna do it anyway. And then lastly is to put yourself to hold yourself accountable because when you're in a community of people who, who expect you to show up every day, it makes it easier to follow through and it makes it easier so you've kind of like set yourself up for success with doing those things. So again I want to say that like it's easier when you have a program and it's outlined. But definitely this is just a decision that you have made and you could have done it, you know, on your own or in a program, whatever it is. So I think this is gold. Like, I think if you remember just this, you can reach a breakthrough. Definitely like to add before I ask you to give. Yeah, about that.

Oh, yes, actually talking about the habit building, that element that you just mentioned. Because before I'm such a person who, you know, easily break my own personal challenge. For example, oh, I'm gonna do this every single day for this amount of X period of time. And it's very easy for me just to say, oh, I don't feel so comfortable today. Oh, can I do it? You know, and then when you stop doing it for one day, it's really hard to pick it up the second day because you're like, oh, you didn't do it yesterday. And then, you know, the bad things just keep happening. But then when joining this program, what it helps me is because first you have this, your weekly newsletters that I really, really love to read. Just to, you know, start my week with positivity and reminder. Oh, I need to work on my English. And that really helps me to give me the push to be like, to start the week, be like, okay, this week I'm going to post seven videos. So every single day one. And then I gonna practice every day, you know, for 10, 15 minutes with your daily sprint and just watching this video and keep going. That's number one. And number two, just knowing that there's this community, I see other people, you know, posting so motivated, posting videos every day. I mean there are people who are posting every single day. And then later on we became such good friends who come on each other's videos, who give likes and they are just so caring. So that's number two and number beginning. I think also with your influency or the fluency Festival. You talk about habit building and also how to set your 90 day goals. I think that also helps, you know, to start off fresh and to start, you know, from day one. This really good mindset of continuing this journey, of this habit of practicing English and speaking English every day. Not much, a little bit, but having this momentum to keep you from start to the end. This is very important. And actually this program is one of the two programs I actually, you know, from start to end, finish what I have, you know, committed myself in the beginning. Another one's about making videos. Okay, can you talk a little bit.

About your plans for the future now that you've experimented with videos a little bit.

Yes. So I actually going into the. One of the reason why I want to, you know, speak better English is because I want to start my own YouTube channel and be educated influencer, talking about how to study, how to learn languages and then sharing my experiences studying different languages and studying abroad. So with that in mind, I said I have to be more confident talking in front of camera and, you know, speak better English. So that's actually one of my future goals is to have my own YouTube channel and start posting videos every single week.

What is one piece of advice that you want to give the people who are still not super confident or not sure what you know, how to find that voice and confidence and fluency in English?

I believe it's really this mental shift of that, you know, I want to do it, I can do it, and I'm going to do it. Doing something that you have never done before could help you to have this, this change that you need in your life just to put you on another path that you would not be able to envision for yourself if you have not, you know, if you have not taken that leap, taken that step. That's what I would tell myself, you know, and after giving this try, I see positive changes not only in my English, not only my pronunciation, but also, you know, my whole personality, really. The way that I communicate with people and the way I engage in online community, that which I will in the future really need, all because of I'm trying to build my YouTube channel and also how I able to carry on how I learned, you know, going through a program, taking what I learned from your program, applying to other languages that I'm currently learning, that's like big, big bonus for me, you know. So, yeah, those are my. I hope that could help some of the audiences.

I'm sure it does. I'm sure it does. Like, you've had a lot of insights that you've shared all throughout this interview. So it's. It wasn't just this little piece of advice, but truly sharing your entire experience has been so inspiring and interesting. So first of all, I want to say thank you so much. I cannot wait to see you thrive and grow. And I'm sure you're going to see much success, mainly because you are operating from love and connection. And I really feel that. And I have no doubt that you're like, really there to offer your wisdom to other people no matter what the outcome is. And I've seen that in the community, and I can see that for you in the future. And it's been such a privilege having.

You as a student.

And now I'm so proud to have you share this experience. So thank you.

Thank you so much, Hadar. And thank you so much for actually having this program. So. Yeah. And I actually cannot underestimate how. I don't know how much you have changed my mentality to speak. And I will carry on what you have taught me in the program. With this kind of, you know, growth, mindset and positive mentality, I will be able to overcome whatever life has thrown me in the future.

Yeah. And it's ongoing work. It's ongoing work. We need to remind ourselves of that all the time, you know, every time we feel a little discouraged. Yes, absolutely. So. But we're here for it, right? I still do this work, you know, the mindset work and the kind of like processing my thoughts and seeing. Is this serving me in any way? If not, why am I keeping those? And then to do whatever it takes to move in a direction that is more positive and productive.

Definitely. So thank you so much for inviting me to be here. I love sharing my experiences with you and my story. So thank you.

Thank you so much, my dear.

Take care.

Be. Be safe.

Thank you.

Bye.